Eudoxia had likely come to the Underworld kicking and screaming, but now that she was here, I knew she would do her best to earn her blood reward. She needed my blood to ascend to godhood, something she desperately wanted. And I’d made a deal to give it to her if she helped us.
I started to convulse, my body betraying me. I couldn’t see my wolf; all my magic was masked. I had nothing to fight this spell off with. Rourke roared, “Get over here, demon king!”
I felt, as well as heard, the Prince’s anger at his summons. “I will not kneel before the female wolf,” the Prince barked. “She is no concern of mine any longer. I hope she dies, and once you’re gone I will deal with Lili myself.”
“Stop your damn posturing,” Ray’s voice shot out. “Didn’t you hear her the first time? If you want your bride to rise again, I suggest you listen to her. If Jessica has a plan, it will work. And maybe if you help, and stop being a stone-cold asshole, you might be able to get the Underworld back under some semblance of control.” I could almost picture Ray’s face as he finished with, “This place is a fucking madhouse. Too many clowns showed up to this rodeo, and if you don’t act soon, it’s going to all be over, and then you’ll be left with absolutely nothing.”
The Vampire Queen struck Lili. I knew because the darkness wavered for a moment and I snapped my eyes open. It hadn’t been the spell caster demons spelling me this time, it had been Lili. She’d hit me with a spell while we’d been struggling.
My eyes landed on the face of a very angry Prince of Hell, who was hovering over me. My mate tightened his hold around my waist as the Prince accused, “This is all because of you. The Scriptures were right. It doesn’t matter which ones were correct. Your birth has caused a ripple in my world—one that cannot be undone! You should die in agony for this.”
I blinked a few times, forcing myself to answer. “None of this was mandated by me. Your precious Lili deceived us all. The power in the Underworld is shifting… whether you like it or not,” I gasped. “I can feel it and I know you can too. So the question is, will the power of the Underworld go to her?” I nodded toward Lili, who was struggling with the Eudoxia. “Or your Princess?”
The Vampire Queen had almost lost her power to Valdov when she died for that brief moment—the power of the Sect chooses the most fit to rule—and right now the power of the Underworld was shifting, sensing a change, searching for the most powerful. If Lili succeeded in becoming the strongest supernatural on earth, the power would shift to her, but if I could change it and give that power to the Princess, there might be a way to stop it.
The Prince appeared taken aback and finally responded through a grim look, “I will not relinquish my crown to anyone, so you are wrong on both counts.” Even through all of this insanity, I noticed that not one hair on the Prince’s head was out of place. His glamour was impeccable.
“It’s funny you still think this is your… choice,” I managed as the spell pushed at me once again. Lili was occupied, but she wasn’t down. I still couldn’t access my magic, but at least I could see. “It’s already begun and I know you can feel it. You’ve probably felt it all along. That’s why you’ve been running scared—searching me out, wrongly accusing me, breaking the rules, and going against your own code. You knew this was coming. The power of the Underworld is leaving you. Your Scriptures were right about that. So, again, I ask you, will it go to your wife or your mistress?”
Lili snickered, and then chanted something in Demonish. My eyes slid closed again. “Those are big words coming from a defeated pawn. You’re not even strong enough to break my spell—the spell I created from the very fiber of your being, strands from your very DNA. The power of the Underworld will choose me. The Princess is dead. There is no other.”
Rourke snarled as the Prince of Hell roared and lunged at his former mistress. Power accumulated quickly in the room. He grabbed her by the throat and my eyes snapped opened. They began to battle and Eudoxia was by my side in the next instant.
“If we want to get out of this alive, I need your blood,” the Vamp Queen insisted, leaning over me in hushed tones. “Lili is the most powerful being on this plane right now, and she’s right. The power will choose her. To defeat her, it will take all of our magic combined.” Her face was as intense as I’d ever seen it.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
As the Prince battled Lili, the spell lifted a little more, but I knew it wouldn’t completely disappear unless I forced it out with magic or Lili died. Magic I couldn’t access.
“Because I know all about Ardat Lili. I’d hoped she was dead, because no one has heard from her for hundreds of years, but I can see we were not that lucky.” She narrowed her eyes on the fighting duo.
“How do you know her?” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
Rourke still had me in his arms. “Vampire Queen, explain yourself.”
“Lili is one of the Five.” Eudoxia’s words were harsh in my ears and not above a whisper. “She can only be defeated by one of the other four. But I think I may have a way around it. As a fae child I learned that there are ways to defeat the Five, but to do it you must have powers numbering five and the ability to control magic.” She cocked her head at me. “And you happen to be able to do such a thing. And there just so happens to be five different supernaturals in this room. A coincidence? I think not. I have learned there are no coincidences when it comes to you.” She shook her head like I tried her patience as her fangs snapped down. “If I had not been forced against my will to follow you to this wretched plane, all would’ve been lost. You would’ve surely died, and now, because I am here, saving your sorry life, you will owe me more than just blood for this.”
I tried to put the pieces of what she was saying together in my mind. “Are you telling me that Lili is part of the Coalition? Is that what the Five is?” If it was, that news was nothing less than completely staggering. I’d had no idea the Coalition was made up of only five supernaturals.
“Yes,” the Vampire Queen hissed impatiently. “Can’t you keep up? She is one of the Five, and has been for centuries. But she did something very bad to someone—quite possibly your predecessor—and was cast here as punishment. Lili has managed to escape over the years, but can only stay on our plane for a very short time before she is automatically pulled back. That is where I encountered her. As I said, I think we can defeat her here and now and finally be rid of her forever, but we must hurry.”